Jubilant Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders confessed that the performance of the party in the GHMC polls was much more than their very “own expectations” and saw this as a clear signal of people’s decisive vote against the “arrogant, corrupt and dynastic rule of the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS)”.
“The party winning more than 45 seats, after the recent Dubbak by-poll victory, meant ‘Sir, Car and Circar will not return’”, exclaimed party chief and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday night. “Car got punctured in Dubbak, now it is dented, and next, it will be in workshop during the Assembly elections. The countdown has begun,” he remarked at a press conference.
“We planned a surgical strike but the people gave a saffron strike,” he exulted, flanked by Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, National OBC president K. Laxman, vice president D.K. Aruna and others.
“I bow my head to the people of Hyderabad and thank my party leaders and cadre for this performance. It came much against the odds as TRS had spent crores of rupees and supplied liquor, with the police looking the other way. The blatant misuse of official machinery making a mockery of democracy was apparent.”
Mr. Sanjay Kumar took pot-shots at the State Election Commission and Director General of Police. “I dedicate the victory of our candidates to the SEC for trying his best to help TRS by issuing midnight orders and allowing inexperienced polling officers. The DGP directed the police not to take action against those indulging in physical attacks against our cadre,” he alleged.
The results show BJP popularity’s was on the ascendancy while that of the TRS was sliding. “Our sun is rising whereas TRS has a son stroke. People taught a lesson to the nephew (Harish Rao) in Dubbak and now to the son (KTR). TRS vicious propaganda against us by trying to scare people of religious strife, issuing fake letters with forged signatures and calling Prime Minister Modi names, did not work as people did not believe them,” he said.
The BJP president thinks the mandate given for “self-respect and development” puts onerous responsibility on the party and it will strive to live up to it. “TRS-MIM with their brute majority were more focused on commissions and underhand deals without proper discussion on people’s issues. We will ensure these are prioritised,” he promised.
Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy accused the government of holding polls “without proper arrangements, not allowing Opposition adequate time and usurping all the hoardings” yet the party triumphed as the TRS was “fast losing people’s confidence while we are strengthening as never before.”
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao used every trick in the book to try and win the elections but people gave him a resounding slap by reducing TRS seats drastically. This puts us in a strong position for the next Assembly elections,” said senior leader Vivek Venkatswamy.
